


You Outshine The Morning Sun

by amanderjean



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Fatherhood, Found Family, Gen, I just have this incredible soft spot for them as dads, Lily is not so much a character as she is a lively plant, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-11
Updated: 2016-04-11
Packaged: 2018-06-01 13:19:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6521449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amanderjean/pseuds/amanderjean
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rhett and baby Lily have a conversation. It is, not unexpectedly, rather one-sided.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Outshine The Morning Sun

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Time Makes You Bolder](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6048322) by [pringlesaremydivision](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pringlesaremydivision/pseuds/pringlesaremydivision). 



> This one-shot was inspired by a scene in the lovely and moving Time Makes You Bolder by pringlesaremydivision. She is a blessing of a writer and an incredible cheerleader, and you should stop right now and read that one first, if you haven't. Huge thanks to MythicallySnappy, whom I adore, for the beta and for always saying the salty thing I'm already thinking. The title is from the song "Dear Theodosia" from the Hamilton soundtrack, because of course it is.
> 
> Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction based on imagined renderings of real people, and is not meant to imply any actual knowledge of the beliefs, behaviors, or values of any of the characters mentioned.

In the wee hours of the morning one day in April, four days after her due date and 39 hours after the first twinge of her mother’s belly, Lily was born. Four hours later, a reverent hush had fallen over the just-barely-adults (and one just-barely-born baby) gathered together in a tight hospital room in North Carolina. Rhett rubbed at his eyes, sandy with lack of sleep and waning adrenaline, and gazed around the room. Christy, lying in bed, was slipping in and out of sleep, still hazy with medication. One hand was draped in a bassinet next to her bed, fingers brushing a tightly wrapped bundle with a pale pink hat set on a perfectly round head. Her long hair was pulled away from her face, splayed out behind her on the pillow, every which way, and there were deep purple bruises beneath her eyes (she looked more beautiful than Rhett had ever seen her). Link was slumped in a chair on the other side of the bassinet, head repeatedly lolling back on his neck before snapping up again, eyes searching out his newborn daughter, staring intently at her, looking for the nearly-imperceptible rise and fall of her tiny chest (as if he could will it to keep moving just by frantic hope alone). Jessie sat on the windowsill, legs drawn up to her chest, head resting against the pane of glass. Her eyes were closed but Rhett could tell she wasn’t really sleeping; her breathing was shallow and silent, and her mouth was still closed tight (her jaw always opened slightly in sleep; Rhett had many pictures to prove this). The room was dark and still, the soft beep and pulse of machines the only sounds invading the quiet.

The youngest among them was, however, soundly sleeping. Rhett couldn’t blame her; her entrance into this world had not come easy, and after crying from the moment she emerged (through bright lights and voices no longer muffled, a connection cut and a prick of her heel, a thorough scrubbing and a tight wrapping) until she had finally been placed in her mother’s arms, she had fallen into sleep at her mother’s breast not quite twenty minutes ago. Rhett and Jessie had been at the hospital the whole time Christy was in labor, keeping grandparents updated, running for coffee and ice and vending machine meals. They had dozed in the hard chairs of the waiting room when the doctors decided this baby wouldn’t be coming out on her own, and they sat waiting and praying and waiting until Link rushed out, running at them, all loopy giggles and boyish yawps, it’s a girl, Christy’s ok, they’re getting her to a room now, come on, come up and meet her — Lily. Rhett imagined the scene had been quite a mess, quick and frantic and Link tripping over his scrubs as he tried to pull them onto his legs and follow the gurney into the operating room at the same time, his hands shaking as he gripped Christy’s, praying praying praying for her and the baby — their daughter — about to finally be born, to make him a daddy.

Daddy. The word seemed completely impossible when attached to his closest friend, whom he’d known since he was basically a baby himself. He’d had months to fit the word ‘Daddy’ around Link, stretch and pull it over his best friend’s image in his mind, and yet now that it had happened it seemed altogether unreal. He stared at Link, whose mouth was now wide open in sleep, head resting against his palm, elbow propped on the arm of his chair. Rhett was struck by how young he looked, in sleep and on the cusp of this new adventure. Link had changed before his eyes so many times; from child to adolescent, from young man to husband, and now to father — Link was someone’s _father_. Rhett could hardly believe it.

Rhett’s incredulity was disrupted by small, soft noises coming from the bassinet. Lily squirmed, mewling so quietly Rhett could barely make it out. He looked over, saw Jessie’s eyes fly open and meet his; she glanced toward the bed, and Rhett’s eyes followed. Link and Christy were now obviously sleeping, still unaware of the quiet fussing of their child. Jessie and Rhett’s eyes met again, and Rhett motioned his head towards the door of the hospital room. Jessie pursed her lips for a moment, glanced again at their sleeping friends, and nodded her head in agreement. 

Rhett unfolded himself from the too-small chair, slowly, and walked softly over to the bassinet. Lily wasn’t really crying, merely producing soft grunts that made the side of Rhett’s mouth rise in spite of himself. He began to pull the bassinet away from between his two friends, slowly and carefully, when suddenly Link’s hand came down hard on the plastic edge of it. Rhett looked up and saw Link’s eyes wild, slightly unfocused from sleep, jawline tight. Rhett smiled at his friend’s reaction, already fierce and protective, and put a finger to his own lips, eyes flitting over to Christy’s sleeping figure. Link looked at him and blinked a few times. Rhett motioned towards the door again, and reached out his hand to Link’s cheek, holding it just on the surface there, gently urging him to lay his head back down. Link blinked, eyes closing longer this time, and he pressed his lips together. He looked over at Christy, down at the baby, then back at Rhett, before nodding and resting his head against his hand once again, asleep before he even shut his eyes.

Rhett’s smile widened as he rolled the bassinet away from the bed, around the curtain separating them from the other (thankfully empty) bed in the room, and through the door. He glanced down at Lily, startled to see her eyes open wide, looking right at him. He felt the apples of his cheeks round out. “Come on, little lady, let’s give your Mama and Daddy a minute,” he whispered. She stared without blinking. 

Rhett knew he couldn’t go far, especially not alone with her, but figured no one would object to a quick lap around the maternity ward at — Rhett glanced at his watch — barely 6:00 am. He pushed the bassinet down the checkered linoleum floor, listening to the faint sounds of other babies crying, mothers and fathers singing and shushing, soft laughter coming through the closed doors of other rooms. Rhett smiled down at Lily again. “You’re better than all those other babies, you know.” He leaned down as he walked, mouth curving into a smirk. “You’re so much more awesome than them. You’re a freaking baby genius.” She was, Rhett thought, most certainly, definitely the best baby he’d ever seen. His smirk softened as her eyes fluttered closed again, the gentle motion lulling her back into sleep. 

He slowed his stride, careful to turn the next corner gently, not wanting to disrupt her delicate slumber. Despite her closed eyes, he spoke to her in a hushed voice. “You’re gonna be the best kid in the whole world. Your Mama’s smart as heck and she won’t let you get away with nothing. You won’t like that when you’re little, but you’ll thank her later. And your Daddy’s the best person I’ve ever known.” Rhett couldn’t help the smile that pulled at his lips. “Don’t tell him I said that. But he is. He’s gonna love you so hard. Heck, he already does.” Rhett blinked against a prickling behind his eyes. “He’s loved you since before you were even made, baby girl. He dreamed about you when he was young. Don’t tell him I told you, he swore me to secrecy, you know, but he would talk about you when we were freaking teenagers. I was just thinking about kissing girls — don’t talk to boys like me, ok? — and he would go on and on about being a dad, and loving you, and making sure he never missed a moment of you. You’re basically his dream come true, darlin’.” 

Rhett’s throat felt thick and tight, and he coughed to loosen it. He’d lost count of how many hours he’d been awake, the last two days had obviously left his emotions ragged. He looked around and saw he was alone in a far corridor, the only door bearing a sign that read ‘storage.’ He rolled to a stop in front of a window; the sun was just starting to rise, painting the sky in rosy pink and orange at the horizon, not yet reaching the dome of deep blue still twinkling with stars. He rubbed a hand over his eyes, exhaustion finally settling into his bones. He’d been running on pure adrenaline for nearly two days, making sure he showed no signs of fatigue in front of Link or Christy, should they need anything from him. Now, in the still and silence of the new day, he felt every minute of lost sleep. He yawned, as quietly as he could manage. 

The cessation of movement pulled Lily from sleep. She squirmed within her swaddle, pink face scrunching up in a way that shouldn’t have been so cute, and from her tiny mouth let loose the tiniest, sweetest, most pitiful cry Rhett had ever heard. It stirred something deep and primal within him, and he reached out his hands for her. He hadn’t yet held her, not wanting to pull her from the arms of her parents while they were so newly acquainted, but now in this quiet hallway he felt no hesitancy. He had taken note of how Link had gripped her, holding the back of her head even with her body, and he slid two giant hands underneath her now, lifting her steadily.

She was so much lighter than he had expected that he had to abruptly change the force with which he lifted her. She felt like nothing, a sack of feathers, and he was startled by how small and slight she was. She fit almost completely in one of his hands, and his heart swelled as he slid his right hand underneath her head and fitted her in the crook of his left arm. She didn’t even take up the length of his forearm, and he pulled her as close to his chest as he dared, careful of squeezing too tight. He took a deep breath in, and brushed one long forefinger along her cheek as she continued to wail. Rhett rocked back and forth, shushing her softly, still moving his finger along her cheek, in awe at how smooth and perfect it was. He hummed, no tune in particular, just a deep rumble in his chest, and he smiled as her cries began to quiet, fade to mere whimpers, before she fell silent. Her eyes were open, just a tiny bit, and her gaze was focused steadily on him. He lifted her up, closer to his face; he’d heard the doctor mention she couldn’t see very far yet and he wanted her to get a good look at him.

“That’s right, Lily, settle down now. I’ve got you.” He looked out the window again, at the steady spread of brightness and color, and turned his body to face her towards the scene before them. “This is the world, baby girl. It’s gonna be a whole lot better now that you’re here.” He kept his eyes out on the horizon, holding his best friend’s daughter close to his chest, feeling her rapid heartbeat flutter in rhythm with his own. This wasn’t his baby, not really, but Rhett was going to claim this moment, this cataclysmic event, for himself, at least a little bit. “It’s not perfect here, but we do alright. Sunrises like this are pretty good. Just wait until you see the forests and the rivers. I wonder how soon your Daddy’ll let me take you camping.” He chuckled to himself. “Probably never. He’s gonna worry so much about you, baby, but he means well. He can’t help it.”

Rhett brought her even closer to him, feeling more prickling behind his eyes, a new tightness in his chest. “Your Daddy worries, but I’ll take care of him. I love him a lot, little one, and I’ve always taken care of him, as long as I can remember. First him, then your Mama. And now you.” Rhett swallowed thickly and felt a tear run a hot path down his cheek. “You might not be my daughter, not really, but you’re still mine. I promise I’ll always take care of you. I promise.” He blinked, and sniffed, feeling more hot tears find their way down into the thin beard around his chin. “I take care of what’s mine.” 

She blinked up at him, looking as if she was concentrating very hard on what he was telling her. For a minute they merely stared at each other, Rhett studying every small part of her; the shell of her ear, the small round of her nose, the full curve of her cheek. Rhett brought her close to his face and whispered conspiratorially, “You look a lot like your Daddy, but you’ve got my eyes, for sure.” He winked at her, grinning like a fool, and went back to memorizing the shifting planes of her small face.

Eventually, her lips pursed and opened, and she turned her head towards his chest, reaching out — _rooting_ — and he laughed. “Sorry, little one, I got nothing for you there. We’ll have to get you back to your Mama.” He bent over, placed her gently, so gently, back into the bassinet, and turned the cart back in the direction of their room. 

As he walked back through the quiet hallways, he wiped his cheeks and tried to blink the lingering moisture away. He looked down again; “Hey, Lily, don’t tell your Daddy how mushy I got back there, ok? Especially don’t tell him I cried, he’d never let me live it down. Alright?”

Lily let out one small, sweet coo; Rhett took it as agreement. “Good. We’ll just keep it between us.” He walked with more determination until they returned to the room where the others were resting. He quietly opened the door, and as he entered, he announced softly, “We’re back, Mama; someone’s looking for you.”


End file.
